This invention is concerned with improvements relating to cooling devices, particularly but not exclusively, to cooling devices for the cooling of beverages.
A cooling device of the kind commonly utilized in the cooling of beverages in a beverage dispenser, referred to hereinafter as being of the kind specified, comprises a chamber containing a cooling liquid, refrigeration means to cool the cooling liquid and a heat exchanger immersed in the cooling liquid through which beverage to be cooled is fed.
Conventionally such a cooling device utilises an agitation means to cause the cooling liquid to circulate around the chamber, to pass into contact with the refrigeration means, and to pass into contact with the heater exchanger, to ensure a high level of heat exchange between the heat exchanger and the refrigeration means. Conventionally such an agitation means comprises an agitation member (such as a fan blade) located in the cooling chamber, and which is driven by a motor exteriorally of the cooling chamber. This requires the use of sealing means to seal the moveable drive shaft as it passes through the wall of the cooling chamber, reducing the thermal insulation of the interior of the cooling chamber, and, depending upon the design, risking the leakage of cooling fluid from the chamber.
Additionally, such a cooling device comprises a pump for the delivery of cooling liquid to other areas in which a cooling function is required, such as in the dispensing of beverages, a conduit extending towards a dispensing head of the beverage dispenser, and/or to the head itself. Conventionally the pump comprises a motor located exteriorally of the cooling chamber, the impeller for the pump being driven by the motor by means of a drive shaft. This construction provides a requirement for high quality seals to prevent any ingress of cooling liquid from the impeller and/or into the motor.
It is also desirable to reduce the size of the beverage dispenser and/or the cooling device per se, and it is one of the various objects of this invention to provide a cooling device for a beverage dispenser which is compact in its construction and efficient in its operation.